Region’s broadcasters launch HIV/AIDS campaign
HIV and AIDS. There’s no shortage of media coverage, both as news, education and paid announcements. And while in some countries rates of infection are slowing, the Caribbean is still second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in the incidence of the virus. To bring those numbers down, a group of fifty television and radio broadcasters in twenty-three countries came together last year to form the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership. After months of planning, the C.B.M.P. launched a major effort over the weekend in conjunction with the official opening of the Cricket World Cup. News Five’s Kendra Griffith has more.
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Live Up: Love. Protect. Respect is the name of the campaign launched region-wide by the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS. According to Chair of the C.B.M.P. Steering Committee, Allyson Leacock, Live Up is different because it specifically targets young people.
Allyson Leacock, Steering Committee Chair, C.B.M.P.
“I think one of the drawbacks perhaps of many of the AIDS messages that we’ve had over the years, while they may have been appropriate for that time, they were targeted at us or they were couched in a format with which we were comfortable. Our younger audiences are turned on and tuned into a very different message and messenger and the vehicle through which that message is conveyed.”
Which is why the broadcasters have enlisted the help of musicians and celebrities from across the Caribbean.
The campaign is telling young people to: Be informed; Protect themselves by using a condom, having a monogamous relationship, and limiting the number of sexual partners; Get tested; Speak to their partners, friends and family about HIV; Take Action by getting involved in their communities; and Respect themselves and others by not discriminating against or stigmatizing persons infected with the virus.
Patrick Cozier, Secretary General, Caribbean Broadcast Union
“I think the central message of this campaign is to get people to understand that as devastating as HIV/AIDS is, it is eminently preventable. The way to prevent it is for people to make safe choices in their sexual behaviour. What we were trying to do in this campaign is to get people to understand the imperative of making those choices through behavioural change.”
In addition to the radio and TV public service announcements, a website, www.iliveup.com, has been set up as a resource centre for youths containing HIV related information. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
UNAIDS estimates that in 2006 twenty-seven thousand people in the Caribbean became infected with HIV. The C.B.M.P. is also working along with the International Cricket Council, UNAIDS and UNICEF in their United for Children, Unite Against AIDS campaign. Channel Five is one of the founding members of the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership.
